What Democrats can learn from Republicans

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Sunday September 05, 2010 · 6:46 PM PDT

2010/09/05 · 18:46

You have got to admit that the Republicans are probably the smartest political party in the world. They knew early on that there path back to majorities was to obstruct everything Democrats have tried to do and make sure that the economy doesnt recover. There was even a Saturday Night Live sketch almost two years ago showing how Republicans were going to stop everything in order to make Democrats look bad and regain the majority.

The plan has worked brilliantly and is one Democrats should follow.

Republicans learned that the model they used from 1932 to 1988, working with the Democratic majority and take whatever scraps they could get, would never get them back the majority.

In 1989, a little known backbencher named Newt Gingrich ran against Ed Madigan in a seemingly quixotic attempt to beat him for the Minority Whip position. Gingrich's platform was that Republicans like Madigan that worked with Democrats were the reason why they were never able to gain the majority. Gingrich believed that Republicans should block Democrats and then blame them and try to win the majority. Gingrich won that race by two votes.

By 1994, in five short years, this plan worked brilliantly, winning a House majority for the first time since 1954.

Not surprisingly, the Republican strategy is working again and will probably win them the House again.

By contrast, from 1994 until 2004, Democrats used the Madigan formula. Simply work with Republicans and hope for a few scraps, which kept them in the minority for twelve long years.

By 2005, Nancy Pelosi would have no more of this and worked to keep the Democrats in line to block Social Security Privitization. This strategy worked and Democrats were back in the majority within two years.

Democrats need to use the Gingrich/Pelosi minority strategy if they are to have hope of regaining a majority any time soon.

Republican ideas are bad ideas and must be stopped by the minority just like the way Republicans have dealt with the Democrats and won.

And if nothing gets done, that is a GOOD thing if Republicans have the majority. Tax cuts for the rich, healthcare repeal, and Social Security privitization are NOT things we want done.

Lets hope to god that Democrats have learned from Republicans, because obstructionism is a winning strategy.

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